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Richard Powers 

Split Tree’s visiting artistic director and studio advisor since 1997 and Stanford dance historian/professor, Richard Powers is one of the world's foremost experts in American social dance.  He is renowned for his effective teaching at all levels as well as for choreographies of dozens of stage productions and films, and his dance workshops across the country and in Paris, Prague, London, Rome, Geneva, Russia and Japan.  4He has been researching and reconstructing historic social dances for twenty-five years and is currently a full-time instructor at Stanford's Dance Division.   More bio info below.
 More at Stanford pages:  http://dance.stanford.edu   
                               Richard in Bill's clutches at Chelsea's graduation

   Left: Richard Powers and partner Angela Amarillas performing at 1996 Paris Vintage Dance Week. (double click to enlarge).
Right: Richard and Angela performing the can-can at the Conservatoire National d"Art Dramatique in Paris, photo by Jean Claude  (double click to enlarge); from Stanford Vintage page.  See many excellent photos of Richard's Stanford vintage dances and dancers and international dance weeks at the Stanford Vintage Dance page.   Other Stanford dance program info is linked here, including Joan Walton's essays on dance and learning dance.

  Photo:  Richard Powers at mini-history class break, Split Tree studio, Waltz Weekend 98--click to enlarge

RICHARD POWERS is one of the world's foremost experts on 20th and 19th century American social dance. He has specialized in researching, teaching, performing and reconstructing historic social dances for 25 years. Currently Richard is based in California where he a is full-time dance instructor and social dance historian at Stanford University. Richard's unfailing teaching style, and unequaled knowledge, make him a favorite and much sought after dance instructor. He is noted for his workshops across the U.S. and in Paris, Prague, London, Rome, Geneva, Russia, Japan and elsewhere. 

Richard is the Director of Stanford's 90 member Vintage Dance Ensemble which he founded in 1992, and which performs social dances of the Victorian, Ragtime, Swing, and Rock'n Roll eras.

Richard's dozens of film and stage credits include choreographing the dances in the CBS film "Spring Awakenings" (1994), choreographing the ragtime dancing for Faye Dunaway and Richard Widmark in the film "Cold Sassy Tree" (1989), choreographing the Victorian ballroom dances for the PBS film
"Mrs. Perkins Ball" (1986), directing and choreographing the 19th century ballroom dances in the Warner Bros./ABC film "North and South" (1985), being the dance historian for the stage musicals "Parade" (Lincoln Centre, 1998) and "Titanic" (Broadway, 1997), and choreography for Bill Irwin's "Scapin" (Off Broadway, 1997).

Awards include: Stanford University's Dinkelspiel Award for distincitive and exceptional contributions to education (1999); Post-Corbett Award, Cincinnati's foremost arts redcognition (1992). Also, in 1992 Richard was, due to his work in historical social dance, selected by the Centennial Issue of Stanford Magazine as one of Stanford University's most notable graduates of its first century.
In 1981 Richard founded the Flying Cloud Academy of Vintage Dance to produce large-scale recreations of Victorian and Ragtime Balls, and in 1982 he founded the Flying Cloud Troupe, a 30 member Victorian and Ragtime performing company.  Past sponsors of Richard's dance workshops include the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (New York City), Academia Nazionale de Danza (Rome), London Swing Dance Society, Washington Swing Dance Society, Arts et Mouvement (Paris), and many many others.

Angela Amarillas

ANGELA AMARILLAS has been Richard's teaching and performance partner for the past eight years. She shares Richard's passion for historical and vernacular dance, has a dance minor from Stanford University, and has taught and performed across the U.S. as well as in Rome, Prague, London, Paris, St. Petersburg and elsewhere.

We welcomed Scott Guffey--he's the one on the right dancing at FF02 with Terra-- to Split Tree as dancer/philosopher-in-residence and library organizer for the summer of 2002.  Scott will be starting a master's program in psychology studies at the State University of West Georgia in Carrollton.  Scott has participated in several Split Tree weekends, including Richard Powers' "Cool Studio" benefit weekend in Nov. 1999.  Scott started dancing in his second year at Stanford after taking social dance classes with Richard Powers and cites one of  his "best dance experiences as performing in Stanford's Viennese Ball opening waltz two years running.

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